The Darlings

November 28, 2011
Two parts Too Big to Fail, one part The Devil Wears Prada, Alger’s debut is taut and compelling. The recession-era Manhattan elite are bruised and a touch less confident than in their heyday, but the summer homes, charity balls, and general extravagance persist—and the titular family is still riding high. Alger’s portrayal of the magnetic Darlings is convincing, particularly that of Paul Ross. Married to the eldest Darling daughter, he’s a self-made man forced to take refuge in the employ of his father-in-law’s hedge fund. What unfolds, amid all the character building, is a well-constructed Madoffian financial scandal, with Alger leaning on her knowledge (she is a graduate of NYU Law School and a former analyst for Goldman, Sachs) for verisimilitude that only occasionally overwhelms. Though the plot is bogged down by a secondary cast who come to drive the drama, sophisticated central characterizations make this novel well worth the time; Alger expertly evokes both sympathy and contempt for her characters and writes with a polished ease, telling the story of our time (or a particular glittery, corrupt corner of our time) with a mix of ruthlessness and sensitivity. Agent: McCormick & Williams.

December 15, 2011
First-time novelist Alger brings previous careers in investment and law to bear in her financial thriller about a prominent Manhattan family of financiers brought down by scandal months after the stock-market crash. Carter Darling and his Brazilian wife Ines, a stereotypically shallow Upper East Side matron, are doyens of Manhattan society with two Spence educated daughters, pretty Lily and smart Merrill. Carter employs both his sons-in-law, preppy dullard Adrian and self-made lawyer Paul--Merrill's husband and the novel's more or less central character--at his hedge fund Delphic. The Darlings, including daughters and sons-in-law, live inside a tightly controlled bubble in which family is supposedly everything until Delphic's dealings come under the scrutiny of the New York office of the SEC. But the Darlings are not the Madoffs. They are aristocratic and "waspy" (an adjective Alger uses a lot). The Madoff stand-in is Morty Reis, a nouveau riche Jew who apparently commits suicide just before the SEC exposes that his management firm, a big part of Delphic's portfolio, has been running a massive ponzi scheme. Did anyone at Delphic know? Is someone going to have to take the fall? Is there other, more personal misconduct in danger of being exposed? Where do the fault lines of loyalty lie within this family? And how much does the family's concierge/lawyer, another nouveau riche Jew, know? While Alger builds suspense by tracking the family's disintegration in short scenes day by day by exact hour, from the Tuesday before Thanksgiving until the Monday after, she dissipates tension with a surfeit of financial chatter; the temperature never rises above tepid, even during sex scenes, and neither does the satiric heat. Merrill and Paul are portrayed as the innocent victim-heroes throughout, but it is hard to work up much sympathy--Paul has dropped his North Carolina family for no understandable reason except social climbing, and Merrill is a "waspy" snob and a possessive wife. A lukewarm financial thriller.

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October 1, 2011

Son-in-law of billionaire financier Carter Darling and much accustomed to the good life a la New York, pink-slipped attorney Paul Ross gratefully accepts the offer to head the legal team at Carter's hedge fund. Then a regulatory investigation materializes, leading to scandal, and Paul must choose between saving himself or standing by the family and its business. A former Goldman, Sachs analyst whose father was CEO of Alger Management until 9/11, Alger seems to write with a certain sharp and knowing elegance. Lots of good noise about this one.

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 15, 2011
Probably the most compulsively readable fiction to come out of the Wall Street financial scandal so far, this debut novel by a former Goldman Sachs analyst offers readers plenty of schadenfreude, if only of the imaginary variety. Paul Ross, married to the daughter of billionaire investment manager Carter Darling, has lost his job. The pressure to maintain a Manhattan lifestyle trumps his unease about working for his father-in-law, and he is hired as general counsel. Two months into Carter's new post, one of his closest friends, who also runs the fund in which the firm is most heavily invested, takes a header off the Tappan Zee Bridge. Turns out the feds were closing in. Now Paul has to answer for the millions of dollars that have vanished from the fund, which turns out to have been nothing more than a Ponzi scheme. Alger knows the ins and outs of both Wall Street and an upscale NYC lifestyle, nailing all the details, from the plush, hushed atmosphere of high-end law firms to the right tennis togs for a casual weekend in the Hamptons. Delicious reading.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)